Home Workouts
A No-Equipment Home Workout for the Whole Body
A useful home workout should be easy to start and easy to adjust. This session uses five movements and clear progressions, so you can train without pretending that every bodyweight variation fits every person.
Warm up for the movements
Spend five minutes walking in place, circling the shoulders, and performing slow practice repetitions. The purpose is to rehearse the positions you will use—not to exhaust yourself before the working sets.
The five-movement session
- Chair squat: 3 sets of 10–15.
- Incline push-up: 3 sets of 6–12.
- Hip hinge or glute bridge: 3 sets of 10–15.
- Supported split squat: 2 sets of 6–10 per side.
- Dead bug: 2 sets of 6–10 controlled reps per side.
Rest 60–120 seconds between sets. Use a stable chair or countertop; do not use furniture that can slide or tip.
Make it easier
Reduce the range of motion, use hand support, choose a higher surface for push-ups, or complete fewer repetitions. An easier variation performed with control is more productive than a difficult variation performed with repeated loss of balance.
Make it harder
Add a pause at the hardest point, slow the lowering phase to three seconds, increase the range of motion, or add repetitions within the listed range. Change only one variable at a time so you can judge its effect.
Stop signals
End the set if you feel sharp pain, sudden dizziness, chest pressure, or unusual shortness of breath. Normal muscular effort and a rising heart rate are different from symptoms that feel sudden, severe, or unfamiliar.
Editorial basis and sources
This guide applies established resistance-training principles and conservative exercise coaching practices. General activity context is informed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the CDC’s physical activity guidance. See our editorial policy for how we research, write, review, and update content.